DETROIT -- It has been more than two decades since first-year Toledo football coach Tim Beckman
did some of the weird things that young men do inside a college dormitory.

Yet only 6 months after he moved into his new home, he told his family that in a sense he was
going back to school.

Beckman, a University of Findlay graduate who was cornerbacks coach at Ohio State in 2005 and
2006, will move into a dormitory for preseason camp.

"I'm moving in with the players, and I'll be there every night, 12 days," Beckman said during
the Mid-American Conference football day on Friday. "It has been awhile since I've been in a
college dorm. But it's time for football and it's my team. I'm not excited about being away from my
family (wife Kim and three children), but I am excited about being with my (other) family.

"I know the players were shocked when I told them about this."

Beckman, 44, won't be roughing it. The dorm is air-conditioned and has Internet access and cable
television.

The players are still talking about their next-door neighbor.

"I think it's awesome," safety Barry Church said. "Coach is going to find out that not a whole
lot goes on. We just kind of relax and hang out. We think this is great. We think it shows how much
Coach cares about us. The dorms, they are not the nicest places.

"(Beckman) brings a lot of energy. We like that."

When he conducted his first meeting in December, Beckman got everyone's attention
immediately.

"Coach is into it," quarterback Aaron Opelt said. "That first meeting he ripped his tie and
jacket off and said that we should be our own team, that it was our team. He told us that he would
work for us."

Beckman arrived at Toledo with a background that suggests he could be the man to turn around one
of the most tradition-rich teams in the MAC. The Rockets have endured three straight losing seasons
after winning a conference title in 2001, bowl games in 2001 and 2005 and four West Division
championships in eight years under Tom Amstutz.

In 21 years as an assistant, Beckman served under Urban Meyer at Bowling Green, Jim Tressel at
Ohio State and Mike Gundy at Oklahoma State. He has coached in six straight bowl games, including
the 2006 national championship game.

"We want to get this program back to the championship years," he said. "This is a great
opportunity."

There are four other new coaches in the MAC: Mike Haywood at Miami, Dave Clawson at Bowling
Green, Ron English at Eastern Michigan and Stan Parrish at Ball State.

Whereas Beckman told the Rockets that it was their team, Haywood said everything begins and ends
with him.

"We want to make sure there is one voice, and it won't be their voice," said Haywood, who played
under Lou Holtz at Notre Dame and was a Fighting Irish assistant last season. "In our first meeting
we talked about understanding which person is running this program. We talked about what was
expected of them as student-athletes."

Haywood said that players should pursue their degrees rather than just worry about being
eligible. He told them that they should serve the community rather than just live in it. Life, he
said, doesn't revolve around football.

"How they handle themselves as Miami men is what we want them to think about all the time," he
said.

That includes dressing in Miami gear while lifting weights.

"About five of them tested me on that and found themselves reporting at 6 a.m. for a lot of
running, up-and-downs (grass drills) and bear crawls," Haywood said. "It wasn't much fun for
them."

Clawson, who was a Tennessee assistant under Philip Fulmer last season, also laid down the law
at Bowling Green by dismissing players who didn't want to conform to his rules.

"We've worked a lot of hours since we got here," Clawson said. "The 16-hour days, well, those
were the short days. As a head coach you're something like a CEO because you are in charge of
academics, fundraising, campus relations and, of course, won-lost record. It can be a tough job,
but as a coach you are taught to do this. It's your job."